Syracuse guards Scoop Jardine, Dion Waiters share a special bond

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardSyracuse guards Scoop Jardine and Dion Waiters warm up prior to the Orange's game against Wisconsin on Thursday in Boston.

Boston — With four minutes and change remaining in Syracuse’s Sweet 16 game vs. Wisconsin Thursday night, Dion Waiters sank a step-back jump shot that elevated the Orange lead to 62-59.

On SU’s previous offensive series, Waiters spun in the lane and deposited the ball in the bucket.

Scoop Jardine had witnessed this type of basketball behavior before. So when the two Orange guards sprinted back to their spots at the top of the SU zone, Jardine turned to Waiters to offer an observation.

“That’s how you feel,” Jardine said, the remark serving as a cross between a question and a statement.

“Yeah,” Waiters replied, “that’s how I feel.”

The moment was a bit of basketball shorthand for two young men who have known each other so long, they can’t remember the first time they met. Long identified as cousins, Jardine and Waiters are not exactly blood. Their grandmothers, Antonio Jardine Sr. has said, are stepsisters.

But the two Philly transplants share a bond that traces to countless afternoons on basketball courts scattered throughout their hometown. Jardine can look at Waiters, watch the way he performs, and place him in basketball context.

“Sometimes he does stuff on the basketball court that amazes me,” Jardine said. “Just his confidence in himself. I love it. I love to play with a guy like that, who’s got that much confidence. That opens up the game for us.

“When he made that shot, I felt like we were in the playground or in the Y back home. That’s how I felt,” Jardine said. “I didn’t feel like we were playing to go the Elite Eight. It felt like we were playing in the park.”

“I was just in my zone,” Waiters said. “And when I’m in one of those zones, I’m locked in. Focused. Ah man, it’s crazy.”